Spanish Adverb Grammar PDF

## TEMA X ### El Adverbio 1. **Morfología del adverbio** - From a morphological perspective, the adverb presents a very diverse form and is considered an invariable word, because it does not accept any kind of inflectional morpheme (neither gender nor number). For example, if we say: I speak *...

## TEMA X ### El Adverbio 1. **Morfología del adverbio** - From a morphological perspective, the adverb presents a very diverse form and is considered an invariable word, because it does not accept any kind of inflectional morpheme (neither gender nor number). For example, if we say: I speak *today*. The word *today* does not accept any modification within its structure, because it is an adverb. The same happens with other words like: *there, slowly, here, enough, well,. bad, now, more,* etc. 2. **Apócope of the adverb**: These words, like some adjectives, admit their shortening because they lose a sound or a group of them at the end; such is the case of the adverbs: *much, so*. 3. **Meaning of the adverb**: From a semantic point of view, the adverb is the word that indicates *place, time, manner, quantity, affirmation, negation, doubt and relation*. 4. **Classification of adverbs**: The heterogeneity of this grammatical category is such that it is not easy for grammarians to establish classes that group all of them, hence, there are different criteria for classifying them. In this topic, we will study the semantic classification that has traditionally been established; according to it, adverbs are, fundamentally, of two classes: some called *qualitative* and others *determinative*. ### 2.1.1. Calificativos - They are responsible for clarifying the meaning of the accompanied word: The authority severely punished the intransigent. They denote circumstance: place, time, *manner, quantity*. They are recognized because they answer the questions: where, when, how, how much? a. **Place**: *below, here, ahead, inside, where, outside, there, around, there, there, above, here, behind*, etc. b. **Time**: *before, now, last night, the day before yesterday, quickly, still, yesterday, when, afterwards, then, meanwhile, today, tomorrow, while, never, soon, late, early, yet, always, already*. c. **Way**: *so, likewise, quickly, well, as, quickly, slowly, even, *catch red-handed, *bad, *better, worse, according to, only, such*. And those ending in *-mente*: *skillfully, sweetly, excessively, easily, quickly, calmly,* etc. d. **Quantity**: *something, barely, enough, almost, how much, more, less, half, much, nothing, so much (so), little, except, even, enough, and some ending in *-mente*: *completely, scarcely, partially, totally*. **Note**: The words *except* and *except* are sometimes adverbs: Everybody comes except him. Everything is fine except this. In other cases, they act as prepositions. ### 2.1.2. Determinativos - They refer to the very existence, reality, substance of what is meant by the word or group of words. They are subdivided into: affirmation, negation, doubt and relation. Although they do not have key words to recognize them, as in qualitative adverbs, they can be identified because they appear in sentences of affirmation, negation, doubt or relation. a. **Affirmation**: yes, true, also. Some ending in *-mente*: *effectively, surely, certainly*. For example: All will surely come to the exam. b. **Negation**: no, never, never, neither, yet (these last two with an evident temporal value): I did not arrive warm either. c. **Doubt**: maybe, perhaps, and maybe, (and sometimes probably, and possibly): Today, perhaps it has rained in the north of the department. d. **Relation**: furthermore, including. ### 3. Functions of the adverb - Its fundamental function is that of circumstantial complement of a verb, and normally, the adverb is placed after the verb: We slept too much. From the syntactic point of view, the adverb is a word that in the sentence can modify the meaning of the verb, the adjective or other adverb. ### 3.1. Use of adverbs - It is characteristic of adverbs to act as a circumstantial complement. ### 4. Adverbial phrases - They are groups of words that form rigid structures, that is, they do not accept modifications inside them. These phrases function as an adverb because they do the same job as it. They present very varied constructions; however, these phrases are generally formed by a preposition plus a noun, adjective or adverb. - According to their meaning, like adverbs, they are classified into: adverbial phrases of place, manner, time, quantity, negation, affirmation, doubt and relation. They are recognized because, like adverbs, the same questions are asked to them. a. **Place**: they answer the question *where?:* far away, a league away, two steps away, a few steps away, last, finally, finally, in the end, on the other side, etc. b. **Manner**: they answer the question *how?:* laughing, blindly, to the end, with full hands, half, to tell the truth, side by side, at a good time, etc. c. **Time**: they answer the question *when?:* at a good time, often, at noon, sometimes, at the same time, at all times, at the last moment, etc. d. **Quantity**: at least, above all, in any case, at most, at least, less, most, more, more, less, until no more, etc. e. **Negation**: they answer a question in a negative form: absolutely, absolutely, not at all, not even in my dreams, not even jokingly, not even, etc. f. **Affirmation**: they answer a question in an affirmative form: indeed, in effect, in fact, indeed, of course, etc. g. **Doubt**: perhaps, maybe, it may be. They are also considered adverbial phrases: consequently, consequently, consequently, therefore, therefore.